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You may have heard about the horrific incident involving Itai Gravely, a 26-year-old woman. In June, she filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Rodney Lee Stephens, a doctor at the Women’s Health Center in Charleston, West Virginia. She alleges that Dr. Stephens forced her to go through with an abortion after she asked him to stop. According to her lawsuit, Ms. Gravely was in severe pain shortly after the abortion procedure began “apparently related to the insertion of the curette.” She then told Dr. Stephens and clinic staff to stop the abortion. In her complaint, she stated that Stephens refused to do so, who then told other employees to restrain Ms. Gravely, and proceeded with the abortion against her will. Within a day following the abortion, Ms. Gravely continued to feel immense pain. She was then taken by ambulance to the Charleston Area Medical Center’s Women and Children’s Hospital (“CAMC”). CAMC doctors found and removed the skull of her baby, and other “products of conception” from Ms. Gravely’s uterus.

In West Virginia, abortion “clinics” are unregulated and unsupervised. Thus, no local, state, or federal authorities inspect any of West Virginia’s abortion mills, do not license its activities, and fail to ensure the safety of women in those facilities. Do you want to help to begin to remedy this situation? The West Virginia Attorney General’s office has called for comments so that his office can determine whether regulation of the abortion industry is necessary. See here. As you will see from the link, it simply requires an email to regulatoryreview@wvago.gov that must be received no later than 5:00 P.M., Eastern Time, August 16th. It is very important that the voices of those seeking to protect women from abortionists be heard. I can assure you that the abortion industry and their allies will generate large numbers of responses. Those of us who are pro-life tend to make the perfect the enemy of the good, and we do not comment at all because we can’t produce a magnum opus. I beg that this not be you. A simple one- or two-paragraph email urging the West Virginia Attorney General to protect the women of his state by ensuring minimum standards of health and safety standards, and regular, routine inspections will be deeply appreciated by many. And if you have friends, family, and church members with West Virginia connections who might have an interest in this important pro-life issue, please encourage them to respond as well. While it is important that good comments be submitted, it is also critical that enough comments be submitted. May God bless you and you family as you seek to serve the most vulnerable among us.

I write as a concerned citizen of the United States upon hearing the story of Itai Gravely about the abortion forced upon her by Dr. Rodney Lee Stevens after she requested him to stop. This is a travesty and no Doctor in any of these 50 states should be allowed to behave in this way.

I ask you to step in and regulate the abortion clinics in West Virginia for the sake of the women in your state. Please ensure that proper safety standards and procedures are put in place to protect women and make abortions safe and hopefully rare.

Dear Attorney General Morrisey,
On behalf of the Christian Legal Society Northern Illinois Chapter, I urge you to take all necessary measures to prevent possible tragedies as that which recently affected Ms. Itai Gravely. Ms. Gravely, a 26-year-old woman, was allegedly forced to continue with an abortion against her will despite great pain. In the rushed procedure, her baby’s skull was left inside her uterus. While I will not comment on Ms. Gravely’s allegations pending trial, I do urge you to note that West Virginia’s lack of local or state regulation and inspection of abortion clinics may lead to abuses that endanger women’s lives as we have seen in Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s recent trial in Philadelphia. I urge that you do all that you can to protect the women of West Virginia, and the others who may come to West Virginia, from sub-standard abortion providers, unsafe procedures, and inadequate medical facilities. Without minimum health and safety standards, and regular, surprise inspections of abortion facilities, the women of West Virginia are at risk of serious bodily harm.
Most respectfully yours,